In today's IT infrastructure, high availability is of paramount importance. Specifically, critical (and sometimes non-critical) components within an IT infrastructure are often layered in redundancy. For example, primary servers may be supported by backup servers; primary switches may be supported by backup switches; primary power supplies may be supported by backup power supplies; and primary storage systems may be supported by backup storage systems.
When designing such high availability devices, extensive testing may be performed to ensure their functionality and reliability. Accordingly, in the event that a specific component in one of these high availability devices (such as a processor or a voltage regulator circuit) becomes unavailable, the high availability device will need to be redesigned. For example, if a specific circuit on a system board is no longer available and needs to be replaced with a suitable substitute, to accommodate such a change, the system board may need to be rerouted and the completed system may need to be extensively tested to ensure its functionality and reliability.